£67,000 on the menu to help foodbank users prepare meals

Struggling Dundonians relying on foodbanks will be given help to prepare meals thanks to a £67,000 grant for classes.

Dundee and Angus College lecturer Fiona Muhsin is on course to combat a chronic foodbank problem the difficulty endured by some users when they are given a bag of groceries but don’t have the skills to prepare the contents.

The computing and creative media lecturer applied for funding from Cashback for Creativity a government initiative diverting money confiscated from convicted criminals.

The bid involved setting up a course which will help jobless people gain IT skills while at the same time create video tutorials explaining how to prepare nourishing meals.

She said: “When people are referred to a foodbank they are not offered a choice of groceries, a parcel of food is made up for them and sometimes this leads to people finding themselves with ingredients with which they are unfamiliar.

“The six-week course we have devised culminates with the production of a range of food preparation tutorials available on the internet and mobile devices and also as a printed version that will be added to the food parcel.”